


hello (fresh), I love you

by raedear



Series: you had me at hello (fresh) [2]
Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Fluff, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani and Nicky | Nicolò di Genova are in Love, M/M, additional cameo appearances by the whole gang, and ridiculous, but mostly in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-19 01:07:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29499297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raedear/pseuds/raedear
Summary: Your driver Nicky will deliver your parcel today between 18:49-19:49, you do have options if you're not going to be in -Joe gets the text on an otherwise innocuous Thursday, and forwards a screenshot of it to Nicky with a laugh and no further thought about it. Nicky texts back a laughing emoji, but nothing else.A tiny sequel tofresh as hell-o, a year and a bit down the line.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Series: you had me at hello (fresh) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2166849
Comments: 31
Kudos: 292





	hello (fresh), I love you

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on [tumblr](https://raedear.tumblr.com/post/643282123760992256/37-smiling-while-kissing) in response to the prompt 'smiling while kissing'.
> 
> Buon appetito

_Your driver Nicky will deliver your parcel today between 18:49-19:49, you do have options if you're not going to be in -_

Joe gets the text on an otherwise innocuous Thursday, and forwards a screenshot of it to Nicky with a laugh and no further thought about it. Nicky texts back a laughing emoji, but nothing else. Joe loves coincidences, sue him. He made friends with four different Yusufs and a Joseph in uni, purely because they all went by Joe and he thought it was funny. He doesn’t remember what he’s ordered, but he’s working from home and it’ll be a fun surprise, later in the day. Maybe Nicky will be home by then, and he can meet his namesake at the door. Maybe, if Joe is very lucky, he’ll break out his old uniform shorts for old time’s sake, and they can have a little fun. 

Joe is getting distracted. 

In his defence, even when he isn’t physically present, Nicky is very distracting. 

He gets back to work, tucking away the thought of peeling Nicky out of ugly shorts for later. He manages it too, until his doorbell rings in the early evening, warm amber light spilling over his computer without him ever noticing the change. Andy doesn’t believe in calling ahead, but Joe’s always delighted to see her, so he sits her in the kitchen with a cup of tea and listens as she outlines her current plans for world domination (or overhauling the VAWG sector. He isn’t sure, it could be either by the sounds of it, or both. He supports her either way). 

He gets a little tickle of suspicion in the back of his mind when Booker appears at the door not half an hour later, but the more the merrier, he’s never been one to refuse his friends attention. He just hopes Nicky has a good day at work, and isn’t too tired for company when he gets home. Joe’s been looking forward to their long weekend all month, and he knows Nicky has too. An impromptu dinner party could either see them off nicely, or could exhaust his love. He hopes for the former, but texts him a quick warning, just in case it’s the latter. 

Nicky doesn’t text him back, but before he can start to truly worry, Nile and Quynh are at his door, demanding his help, and he loses the thread of the evening completely. Nile takes over making tea, while Quynh bullies him gently upstairs, wailing about a fitting gone wrong and how she needs someone to try on this outfit before tomorrow, _please Joe! A wedding is at stake!_

(Personally, Joe thinks a royal blue button down alone is a little informal for a wedding, but the trousers are nice, and weirdly well-fitting. Quynh’s lucky he’s this poor guy’s measurements, otherwise his wedding would be a mess of uncomfortable inseams.)

She shakes her head at him when he steps out of his and Nicky’s en suite, and pushes him back in to fuss with his hair and beard. She rolls his sleeves up to just under his elbows and sniffs her way through their (shared! It delights Joe every time, even now, six months after they moved in together) aftershave collection, spritzing him with her favourite over his protests. Any concerns she might have about the groom smelling of another man’s cologne brushed away with a flippant wave of her hand and a scoff. 

‘God, Joe, do you have to be so pretty all the time?’ she asks, adjusting his collar and unbuttoning another button, baring his collarbone; the broad smile on her face undercuts her sarcastic tone. 

He winks at her in the mirror and rolls his sleeves back down, cuffing them at the wrists with the nice cufflinks Nicky bought him on a whim two months before. The little scimitars have tiny garnets as pommels, and he loves the way they catch the light. 

‘Think the groom will have such nice accessories?’ he asks, showing his wrist to Quynh. She looks confused briefly, before realisation dawns and she shakes her head, laughing.

‘I’m sure he’ll look great.’ 

Joe winks at her one more time, and goes to shoo her from the room so he can get changed, when the doorbell rings again. He pauses, looking at her, and she stares right back, unblinking and expectant. He can’t hear anyone moving downstairs, even though they’re all usually shameless about answering his door and his phone when they’re over. He huffs a laugh and steps around her, shaking his head and wondering what’s keeping his friends’ nosiness in check this time. 

He’s still smiling when he opens the door to find Nicky on the doorstep, holding a box. 

‘Nicolò? Did you forget your key?’ Nicky looks great, he’s wearing Joe’s favourite of his shirts and the fancy watch he bought him for his birthday. It’s definitely not what he wore to work that morning, Joe remembers because he had threatened to burn his tie if he was still wearing it when he got home. 

Nicky smiles at him, the tiny flicker of his lips that Joe has spent a year and a bit trying to capture in charcoal. 

‘No, _tesoro_ ,’ he takes Joe’s hand as he speaks. ‘I didn’t forget my key.’

Joe can hear people moving behind him, but he can’t look away from Nicky. Someone’s strung fairy lights along the hedges at the edge of their garden, and they’re limning him in gold. 

‘What’s happening, love?’ Joe feels strangely distant from the moment. All the pieces are there, and he can see them all, but he can’t quite click them together in his mind. Nicky’s eyes are so bright, and his smile is so sweet. Joe grips his hand tightly. 

‘Joe- Yusuf, I—’ Nicky breaks off with a laugh and starts again, this time in fluent and utterly impenetrable Italian. 

Joe’s been learning, ever since that first night in his kitchen, but this is far beyond him. He catches _‘ti amo’_ and _‘bell’uomo’_ , but the rest is just musical nonsense. He can’t help but smile though, wider by the second. Nicky finally stops, and looks at him expectantly, shaking his hand for emphasis.

‘If you’re going to insult me,’ says Joe, slowly, smiling so wide it almost hurts. ‘At least have the decency to do it in a language I understand.’

Nicky’s smile grows to the crooked grin Joe loves more than almost anything, and he sinks to one knee, still holding Joe’s hand. 

‘Yusuf, I love you, you ridiculous, beautiful man,’ he says in Dutch, looking at Joe like he never wants to look at anything else. ‘Every day I think I couldn’t love you more, and every day you make it so it’s impossible for me not to. I want to spend all of my days with you. Will you marry me?’ 

Joe’s nodding before Nicky’s even finished speaking, before he can open the box Joe forgot he was even holding. He pulls on Nicky’s hand until he stands again, and he kisses him as hard as he can. Objectively, it’s a terrible kiss. They’re both smiling so wide they can barely touch each other’s lips, and Joe gives up trying in favour of resting his forehead against Nicky’s, laughing a _yes, of course, I love you,_ into the miniscule space between them. 

Behind him, he hears the pop of a champagne bottle and the cheers of their friends. In a minute, Nicky will put a beautiful silver ring on his finger and give him a proper kiss. Later, they’ll all laugh together at Joe missing every sign of what was to come, including the fake website Nicky made for the equally fake delivery notification text. Much, much later still, he’ll kiss Nicky through a broad smile again, under a tree heavy with blossoms, in front of everyone they love. 

Right now, he holds Nicky’s hands tightly, and they press the edges of their smiles together right there on their doorstep.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry there's no cooking in this one, hopefully it makes up for making so many of you hungry with the last one c; 
> 
> If you've got the spoons, kudos and comments mean the world to me :D 
> 
> Catch me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/raedear_writes) and [tumblr](https://raedear.tumblr.com)


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